


It Started With A Dare

by orphan_account



Category: Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, Double the Fun, For a Friend, M/M, Never thought I was gonna write something for this, Never wrote an AU before either, Smoking, W E L L, but here we are
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 07:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13335927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It started with a dare.Or- not so much a dare as statement made in such confidence of failure that it might as well have been constructed as a dare. The way Pip’s eyes narrowed and flashed, the way he leaned forward and snatched Ben’s cigarette from his mouth, curling his lips as he bent the words, “You won’t, you’re a coward,” around his teeth in the frosty dark. If Ben acted the way he did, he wasn’t the one to blame. His hands reaching out, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but if he did something untoward-





	It Started With A Dare

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, so this is different.  
> For Cindork, who drew for me my lovely theatre teacher OC that...I used...maybe once during rp but REGARDLESS of my stupid schedual I promised them ages ago I would do a College Au Fic of these two dorks smooching.  
> And...here we are. This was a fun challange- I got to play around with time hopping again and I don't usually write such...detailed smooch scenes? So that was different. Good times *two thumbs up* 
> 
> Credit where Credit is Due- These lovely individuals Betad the work, and I am very greatful.  
> Micaxiii  
> Kyoobot  
> and Launturnforest
> 
> <3 Cheers.

       It started with a dare.

       Or- not so much a dare as a statement made in such confidence of failure that it might as well have been constructed as a dare. The way Pip’s eyes narrowed and flashed, the way he leaned forward and snatched Ben’s cigarette from his mouth, curling his lips as he bent the words, “You won’t, you’re a coward,” around his teeth in the frosty dark. If Ben acted the way he did, he wasn’t the one to blame. His hands reaching out, he didn’t know what he was going to do, but if he did something untoward-

       But then, it had to be blamed on Kenny, who got them all into the party, crammed into the tiny house on the corner where the theatre kids spent their days soaked in drink and smoke and melodramatic anguish. Kenny had gotten them into the fall aftershow party- it was his fault. They still all had to suffer through the performance- such was the price stated by the meathead who Ben knew had more of a desire to get into the lead chick’s pants than anything to do with musical theatre. Two hours though- this couldn’t be worth it. Two hours stuck next to Pip, still in the dark, watching shadows play across the landscape of his face more than the show because the guy’s facial expressions were priceless- just priceless- but still. He didn’t feel guilty then, left to his own devices in the thrumming din of the party at all about slowly sucking down the shit beer that was hiding underneath the lawn chairs in the Florida room-

       And if he drank a bit more than he usually did, if he pushed himself past that limit from comfortable buzz to absolute shitfaced, well then- well. It was still Kenny’s fault.

       Or maybe it was the beer’s fault. It messed with his head, alright? It made him feel- it made him do- Listen, he wasn’t usually party kinda guy, but in the moment, he had been feeling good, so if he joked a bit- if he maybe took it too far- it was the fault of the beer. So maybe he had a few hands where they shouldn’t have been, let them linger there a bit too long as he jabbed at Pip about finally giving him a real welcome to the states, well, that wasn’t him. That most certainly wasn't him, touching Pip that way, leaning down to whisper in his ear that way. At some point though, and Ben couldn’t have been sure when he caught it, there had been something in those eyes when Pip looked up at him, something flickering under the swinging, dusty Christmas lights, and suddenly, Ben hadn’t been able to handle it. He’d thrown him in the direction of a gaggle of backstage kids doing a keg stand who’s alcohol content of probably a solid 0.3 already and-

       And when they pulled Pip in, when he vanished from sight, if Ben felt sick in seeing that, he had hid it because-

       Because it was nothing more than the alcohol, which again, was Kenny’s fault, and again, he had needed to go back out to the Florida room to get his bearings because of them- it was their fault. Standing in the dark, he hadn’t worried if anyone could see his face, or the shaking in his hands. God though, he had wanted a cigarette, just to take the edge off, because of the edge he was currently catching himself on was sharp, sharper still because of the alcohol, because of being here, because of that sudden fluttering in his stomach and curl in his chest and he didn’t want to think about how close his lips had been to Pip’s ear and-

       And he didn’t care, he had told himself, he really didn’t care. He didn’t feel anything and if he did that wasn’t why he was sick. He only felt like that because he drank too much, so-

       So it was because of that that he stole the cigs. He had smelled the tobacco wafting off of a jacket that had been thrown over a pair of broken adirondack chairs, and it drew him like a moth to flame. Ben didn’t feel guilty then, either, about stealing a few once he found the box in the pocket, shuffling around the school ID, the wallet, the keys to get his prize. He had just pulled three from the carton and was about to go back to look for a lighter when he heard it- the guy who played the one lead, and who was currently mashing faces with the guy who played some other part and-

       And if his hand froze midway out of the pocket while he stared, he told himself it was just because he wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to get caught, but the way the moaning cut through the dark, the limbs only able to be seen because of the streetlight dancing off of them, caressing the dark held between them as he heard-

       So maybe it was the cigarette’s fault, putting him in that situation, and the drink, for making it so fucking difficult to think, and Kenny’s, because fuck Kenny, because this was not where he wanted to be right now, not anymore. Outside, in the cold of a fall night, his hands had been shaking as he tried to light himself a smoke, only to succeed as soon as he had heard the back door open-

       And Pip was there.

       Breathing hard and staring at the sky like he was about to challenge it to a fist fight, eyes wide and furious, with his small shoulders lifting and falling as his breaths rattled his ribcage. Ben felt nothing- he didn't- he’d have sworn it in a court of law- but then Pip had turned that livid stare to him, eyes swiveling to catch him before marching down the stairs.

       “Asshole,” he had hissed, “Fucking. Asshole.”

       And there was nothing Ben could think to say to the finger shoved in his face.

       “I can’t figure out how the fuck you even think. Do you have any kind of brain?”

       “…What?”

       “Are you kidding me?” and Ben had to shut his eyes as Pip screamed at him, as he threw his hands back towards the house, a flailing gesture all that could be given to summarize the chaos, “What was that inside! What the fuck was that!”

       “I- I don’t-“

       “’Gonna show me a nice time-,’ you total fucking dipshit.”

       “It-,” and he had bristled at that, because it wasn’t his fault- it wasn’t, “It was a joke.”

       “How was that a joke!”

       “I dunno! I just-“

       “You just what, Ben! You just fucking what! Feel me up and whisper shit in my ear before-!”

       “I wasn’t trying to pull anything Pip, jesus!”

       Pip had laughed at that, a high cackle that snapped the air clean in half, “Of course you wouldn’t,” before he leaned forward and snatched the cigarette out of Ben’s mouth, “You won’t, you’re a coward.”

       And it wasn’t Ben’s fault. It was the way Pipi’s lips curled around his teeth, the way they glinted in the dark. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t, that he didn’t know what he was going to do, but if he did something untoward-

       It was brutal, the way Ben’s mouth crashed against Pip’s, all teeth and tongue, all anger and the tang of beer. He pinned his sloppy lips to Pips, tasting behind those glinting teeth the sharp edge that had tinted the words spilled just before, and he shifted his grip so that he had one hand at the base of Pip’s head while the other grabbed his wrist, held him there, grounded him just as his legs buckled from the sensation of stubble against stubble. Ben could feel Pip’s jaw working against the heel of his hand, the heartbeat in Pip’s throat, and it was a drug- it was. It wound him higher until he couldn’t breathe, that heavy pounding in his hand, right in the curve of his palm, and between that and Pip’s breath on his skin, he felt like his heart was going to bust out of his chest. It hit him, then, even through the roar in his ears, that this wasn’t going to end well, but-

       A sigh, a shift of pressure, the feeling of a hand balling his shirt right atop his chest.

       Pip kissed him back.

       Pip kissed him _back_.

       He pulled away so fast his head spun, lights popping behind his eyes as he stumbled backward with a hissed, “Fuck all!” clenched in his mouth along with the taste of Pip’s drink. They stood just out of arm's reach of each other, breathing heavy. For a moment, Ben swore he saw Pip run his tongue against his lips, but he couldn’t be sure in this light, and he wasn’t about to assume, because-

       “I-,” he swallowed, “I am…not…a coward, Pip.”

       Though he couldn’t see Pip’s mouth move, he heard a soft, “Oh,” through the dark.

       “...Yeah…”

       “…What- what are you, then?”

       Ben drug his hands down his face, “I don’t know, man, I d-d-don’t-I just- I- augh.”

       “Well,” even through the haze, Ben could hear the hesitation in Pip’s voice, and in some small way, that gave him comfort, “What do you know?”

       He opened his mouth, then closed it. There again, that feeling, and the words lodged in his throat with that twisting floating that he wanted to say was just him needing to throw up, but it wasn’t- and he knew it- it wasn’t that, but he was going to hold onto the lie until the answer finally force its way out of Ben’s mouth, “I wanna kiss you again.”

       “…Oh.”

       Whatever happened next, it was the fault of the butterflies in his stomach, the twisting, curling softness in his chest. It was the fault of a soft laugh coupled by the glint of teeth in the dark as Pip’s face broke into an uneven grin.

       Whatever happened next, no matter how hard his heart pounded and how his face flushed, it wasn’t his fault.


End file.
